Tonight's LUNAFEST® Raises Funds for Women With Breast Cancer

Since 1953, the women in  Manhattan Beach have been helping the women of their community, both personally and professionally.

Tonight, the group is hosting LUNAFEST®, a fundraising film festival dedicated to promoting awareness about women’s issues that begins at 5:30 p.m. with hosted wine and appetizers followed by a series of award-winning short films by, for, and about women screening from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The Hermosa Beach Community Theater, 710 Pier Avenue, is the location for LUNAFEST®. Tickets are $30 at the door, cash or check.

Breast cancer awareness and support for those whose lives it has touched has been a focus of the group of late.

In their typically grassroots style, the Soroptimist International women have begun packaging breast cancer comfort bags for those in the community who are going through chemotherapy for the first time. President Karen Block said the group conferred with doctors, survivors and other experts to find out exactly what a chemotherapy patient might need. 

“Inside [the package] contains items that a woman may or may not realize she will want as the chemo starts doing its job," Block told Manhattan Beach Patch. "There is a neck pillow, super soft toothbrush, breath mints, tea, lotion, baby shampoo, and I think most special of all, a handwritten note from a Soroptimist to the woman, letting her know that there is a group of women out there thinking of her and supporting her.” 

The club, which has more than 3,000 chapters in 124 countries, aims to recognize the community efforts made by women on behalf of women. This includes three annual prizes that are awarded as well as endless benefits and fundraisers to help the Soroptimists continue their work in the Manhattan Beach community. 

The breast cancer comfort bags cost approximately $45 each, an amount covered almost exclusively by donations. Earlier this year, New York Life gave the group a $5,000 grant, and Supervisor Don Knabe gave $3,500.

Block and the other Soroptimists continue to work hard to find new donors to meet the project's ongoing needs.

“Because this project depends so much on donations, getting recognition is very important so that we can solicit more donations to keep the project going,” said Block. 

The idea developed a few years ago at a Soroptimist conference, when one of the members heard about another chapter that was putting together a similar project.

After exploring around the South Bay for any other organizations meeting this need and not finding anything, the group contacted Michelle Rakoff, the executive director of Breast Cancer Care and Research Fund. Rakoff agreed to meet with Soroptimists to give input on what sorts of items chemo patients would need from a medical and personal standpoint.

Kelly Fogarty, a past Soroptimist president (2007-2009) and the current regional treasurer, was instrumental in the project’s genesis. 

“This [meeting with Rakoff] helped us refine the project to specifically address women beginning chemotherapy, instead of say surgery or radiation treatments,” she said.

Soroptimist International Manhattan Beach recently held a "thank you" event at Ayres Hotel - Hawthorne/ManhattanBeach/LAX to thank their local support.  

“The event was to acknowledge the grants from two sources. Both Linda Cirincione [financial services professional with New York Life] and Steve Napolitano [Napolitano represents Supervisor Knabe in the nine beach communities of Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey, Westchester, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance and Lomita] went out of their way to obtain this assistance for us, and we wanted to thank them in person and take some pictures. “

Last year, one of the recipients of a Soroptimist International breast cancer gift bags wrote a thank you note, expressing the usefulness of the endeavor.

“As a stage IV breast cancer patient, I found everything in the bag very helpful. I now sleep with the pillow, and the Seacret facial cream and body lotion is remarkable. I’ve written to the distributor to find out if they have a discount program for women in treatment. Little things make all the difference when facing any kind of crisis in our lives.”

Proceeds from LUNAFEST® benefit Soroptimist International Manhattan Beach and the projects it supports, including The Breast Cancer Fund. Thus far, LUNAFEST®, which is created and funded by LUNA, The Whole Nutrition Bar for Women® has raised more than $360,000 for Breast Cancer Fund and more than $570,000 for other women’s nonprofit organizations.